Camden was the fourth most dangerous U.S. city, per a real estate company survey.
CAMDEN -- In the face of a downward trending homicide count and decreased overall violent crime totals, Camden was still one of America's 100 most dangerous cities last year.
That's according to Massachusetts-based real estate website Neighborhood Scout, which released its FBI-backed findings earlier this month and put the roughly 77,000 residents of the nine-square-mile City Invincible in the No. 4 slot.
This year's release, the fifth annual effort of its kind by Neighborhood Scout, is based off crime data from 2015 -- approximately two years after the Camden County Police Department took over law enforcement duties in the city.
"In the county police department's second full year of operation, 2015, was another year of progress for public safety in the city, which logged almost 2,000 less victims of crime from the 2013 Neighborhood Scout listing," Freeholder Louis Cappelli countered earlier this week.
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According to the Neighborhood Scout methodology, the data on violent crimes -- murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault -- in cities of 25,000 people or more is reported by law enforcement agencies to the FBI.
Per the study, Neighborhood Scout claims Camden's violent crime rate "soars" above the national average. Camden City residents had a one in 50 chance of becoming a crime victim compared to New Jersey's overall rate of one in 392.
Camden's 2016 homicide count of 45 fatalities was higher than those of 2014 and 2015. In data provided by Camden County officials late last year, there were about 4,200 violent crime victims in 2016 -- down from 5,263 in 2013.
Other dangerous New Jersey locations within the top 50 include Atlantic City, at No. 16; Trenton at No. 42 and Bridgeton at No. 46. Camden ranked No. 2 in Neighborhood Scout's 2016 report and came in first in 2015. Data used for 2015's ranking cited 32 murders, 75 rapes, 485 robberies and 931 assaults.
Cappelli continued that Camden City is "moving forward and making great strides on a daily basis" and that there is "no disputing the new corporate campuses rising from shuttered lots creating fertile ground for change in the community."
"Regardless of the content in these lists, that do nothing but compound an old and tired stigma of city, there is real tangible progress being made here on a daily basis," he said.
Neighborhood Scout's top five most dangerous cities for 2016 are, in order, Wilmington, Delaware; Camden, New Jersey; Alexandria, Louisiana; Monroe, Louisiana and East St. Louis, Illinois.
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.